Reading People
by MireliAmbar
Summary: How Sigrun learns to read while in the Legion of the Dead, learning something about herself and Varlan Vollney in the process. One Shot


_This story came about because I thought there was no where near enough Sigrun fanfiction and also I was trying to get into Siggy's head. She is such an interesting character. It's set during the time Sigrun had joined the Legion of the Dead and her relationship with Varlan Vollney, a noble was hinted at in Awakenings and he was the person who taught her to read. _

_To the Hearties and the WV'ers, you know who you are *hugs*._

* * *

"Spell out how you think your name should sound." Varlan said. The dwarf stroked his dark beard thoughtfully, watching the Legion of the Dead's newest recruit struggle with the words.

Sigrun looked down at the book in her hands. Varlan had been trying to teach her to read for a few days. Nothing was working. She saw the letters mesh and merge against her into one black and white mess. She could kill a genlock with a flick of her blades yet the written word _scared_ her. She didn't want to tell Varlan, sure he would laugh at her. The rest of the Legion unit were already laughing at her, asking why she needed to learn to read Ferelden. Ragnok, the second in command had a bet running as to how long it would take Varlan to get into her small clothes, sure this was the only reason a noble caste could be interested a casteless woman like Sigrun.

Varlan patted down the dirt flat in between where they sat and handed over his old knife, hilt first. "Pick a letter, remember how it sounds and copy it with the hilt of the knife on the ground. You can do this, salroka. You're clever."

Sigrun dug her nails into the palm of her hand and tried not to let the noble's kind word make her blush. She was technically dead and surely the ability to go red should have died at her funeral. She sighed, taking the worn knife off Varlan. As she concentrated, she stuck her tongue out slightly and went through the book, picking letters that she thought sounded right. _Sig-run, _sounding the word out under her breath as she tried to remember how many letters she would need and how many different sounding letters there were in her name. It was hard when she never saw her name written down before. She cursed her curiosity and Varlan for being willing to take her on as a student. And all because she'd seen him reading the Ferelden book one evening and wondered what he was doing.

She was finishing the N, trying to make sure she got it the right way round when she heard a cough. Looking up, she saw Varlan trying not to laugh, his eyes shining with mirth. The frustration from trying to learn something new and being laughed at bubbled over and she said "What did I do wrong?". She chucked down the knife in frustration. This was not like her at all and was irritated with herself for feeling so irritated. By the Stone, why did she say she wanted to learn to read? _To show Varlan Vollney you're not just some stupid duster._ She shooed the small voice away and kicked out her legs to get some blood back into them. Varlan watched her and as she reached for the knife again he put his hand on the knife to prevent her picking it up.

"We don't have to do this, not if you don't want to. But as I said, I know you can learn. Stop beating yourself up, Sigrun. It's always hard learning something for the first time."

She grinned at him and her frustration disappeared. "Am I that obvious, huh?" He smiled in return.

"My sister Lorcha was the same, she would get angry with herself when she was having problems learning something." His eyes skimmed over her face and off into the darkness. She saw his sadness but didn't want to ask about his family, his life before the Legion. Not if it made him gloomy. Then the still small voice perked up again. _Oh good, you remind him of his sister. Way to go, Sigrun..._

"Anyway," Sigrun said, changing the subject "what made you laugh? Was my spelling that bad?"

Varlan pulled his hand away from the knife and looked at her name she spelt in the dirt. "You did very well, you only got one letter wrong."

"It was the U, it should have been an A instead. I knew it!" She said, reaching her hand out to rub the ground clear again. Varlan grabbed her wrist and said "No, the U was right." He let go as she pulled her hand away, trying not to respond to his hand against hers.

"Well, what then?" She was confused, couldn't see what the fault was.

The sides of Varlan's mouth twitched as he said "Your name begins with an S, not a C."


End file.
